When Plans Go Awry: How to Overcome Any Unexpected Business Challenge

When things don’t go as planned —in life or in business — it can be difficult to figure out what to do next. The best thing you can do when facing an unexpected business challenge is to determine how you’re going to react. 

The way that you react can either keep you stuck in a negative situation or enable you to move forward with positivity and optimism.

Use the 10 following steps to regain your focus and overcome business challenges when things haven’t turned out the way you planned. 

#1 – Face the challenge.

First things first: acknowledge the facts to yourself. Recognize that the situation has progressed along a negative path.

#2 – Contemplate it.

Once you’ve accepted that you’re facing a challenge, reflect on what happened. What was your first clue that things were going in a different direction than you expected?

#3 – Recognize that everyone has tough times. 

You don’t have to feel like the Lone Ranger. Everyone you know has experienced challenging events in their lives. Most likely, someone you know is struggling right now with an issue that you might not be aware of. We all experience tough times, even business owners.

#4 – Consider your role. 

What was your part in events going the way they did? Could you have stopped the situation from occurring? Did you feel intuitively that it would happen?

If you need to make an apology or talk with someone about an error you made, do so right away. This way, you’re owning up to and correcting the parts of the situation that you had a hand in. You’ll learn important information for future similar situations and move past the current event with grace and ease. 

#5 – Tell yourself you’ll get through it. 

Recognize that you’ve survived challenging events before. You can really boost your self-esteem by knowing that you’ll eventually get through a situation and will be okay on the other side.

#6 – Remember how you navigated prior negative experiences.

Exactly how did you get through these business (or life) challenges in your past? Use those strategies to manage the current difficult situation.

#7 – Reconsider your goal. 

Is your objective still achievable now that the difficult situation has taken place? Do you still want the same thing? If the answer is “no”, that’s alright — Simply move on to step #8.

#8 – Establish a new objective if necessary. 

If the other goal is no longer achievable, where can you go from here? What’s the best thing you can work toward now? Maybe because of this situation, a possibility has opened that wasn’t there before.

Once you determine your new goal, you have a direction. This direction is critical to your happiness and success.

#9 – Seek support.

When something goes awry, turn to your close friends and family members for emotional support. Talk with them about the challenging situation. Lean on them a bit. After all, that’s what friends are for.

#10 – Shake it off. 

Going through the steps above can help you reach a point where you can let the disappointment go. Accept that it occurred and then keep going. Shaking off the negative situation means you’re empowering yourself to get past this and continue on to a brighter future.

Take these 10 steps even further with three introspection questions.

• How can a challenge make me stronger?
• When was the last time I overcame a minor stumble?
• Why must I get up quickly when I fall?

Remember: you’ve overcome challenges in life and business before, and you can overcome this one, too. Repeating daily affirmations can help remind you of this fact. 

I get up quickly when I fall because my strength is determined by my resolve to move forward, regardless of setbacks. When I am determined to succeed, a simple fall only fuels my drive. No matter how many times I fall, I wipe the dust off my knees and carry on.

Without overanalyzing my mistakes I evaluate my actions in order to learn and grow. I refrain from judging myself too harshly in order to preserve my spirit. I offer myself the same forgiveness that I give freely to others.

Today, I choose to get up quickly from any falls I may experience. I learn from my mistakes and become a stronger person, ready to face the challenges of the day.

You Can Rise Above Any Business Challenge.

It may seem difficult right now, but you can successfully rise above any situation that hasn’t gone according to plan.

Apply these ten tips to take a step in the right direction and begin overcoming your business challenge. Once you begin, you’ll find resources within yourself that you may not have known existed. 

Want to learn more tips for overcoming challenges in business and in life? Read 7 Common Obstacles to Your Goals and How to Navigate Them.

Are you facing business challenges? 
Let's schedule a complimentary coaching session to discuss how you can overcome them.